


A Silent Refuge

by happyaspie



Series: Tony Stark is a Good Mentor [43]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Avengers Tower, FRIDAY (Marvel) Is Not Helping, Fluff, May Parker (Spider-Man) & Tony Stark Coparenting Peter Parker, Not Canon Compliant, Precious Peter Parker, Spidey Sense Fail (Marvel), Tired Peter Parker, Tired Tony Stark, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark is a Good Mentor, Worried May Parker (Spider-Man), Worried Tony Stark
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-26
Updated: 2020-03-26
Packaged: 2021-03-01 00:29:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,653
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23126314
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/happyaspie/pseuds/happyaspie
Summary: While having a 'spider-sense' can come in handy, it can also be a hindrance.  Especially when the constant hum keeps you awake at night.  Peter learns that there is one place he can go that feels safe enough to silence his heightened awareness and it's where Tony is.
Relationships: Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Series: Tony Stark is a Good Mentor [43]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1397362
Comments: 41
Kudos: 463





	A Silent Refuge

Tony woke up entirely too early in the morning to his phone instantly vibrating on the table beside his bed. When it finally went quiet he sighed and tried to go back to sleep only to have it start up again immediately after. With a groan, he haphazardly felt around on the table until he had the offending device in his hand and then fumbled to answer it without ever looking to see who was calling. There was only a short list of people who could reach him through the one line that didn't go through FRIDAY and if they felt the need to call him twice in rapid succession, then he figured it must be at least somewhat important. "What's up?"

"Is Peter with you?", the voice on the other line asked and it took Tony longer than it should have to figure out who was talking to him. In fact, he had to pull the phone away from his ear and glance down at the name before it clicked and his sleep-rattled brain slowly started to work things out. _It was May and she was asking him about the kid. Pete. Peter. She thought Peter was with him?_

"No. Why would be he be with me?", he asked with confusion. It was way too early on a... whatever day it was for the kid to be with him.

"I don't know!", May clipped and Tony was suddenly awake enough to register how distressed she sounded. "I went into his room this morning to make sure he was getting up for school and he wasn't there. There's no note, he's not answering his phone and he's not with Ned, so I was hoping that you had him.", she asked, her voice sounding more and more perturbed the longer she spoke.

"May... I would never come to collect your kid in the middle of the night without saying something. I'm not _that_ irresponsible.", Tony said as he sat up and tried to wipe the sleep from his eyes. Then he remembered that at one time he's lied to the woman and hauled her nephew out of the country without her knowledge and gave in a little. "Okay, maybe I am but _I didn't_. He's not with me. Let me pull up the suit stats. Maybe he got up before you and went out for an early morning swing.", he said with an exhausted sigh but May didn't seem to think that was the case being as she was once again huffing in his ear.

"You don't understand. He's not answering his phone, Tony. Oh, god what if he's hurt?", she said with growing anxiety that was starting to send ripples of worry through Tony as well. Especially when the console he used to monitor the Spider-suit came up blank.

"The suits not active.", he stated not quite masking his own concern. "Jesus. Okay.", he started as he ran his hands down his face and let out a deep breath. "Okay, I'm going to have FRIDAY track his last location and check the surveillance. I'll let you know when I find something. You just hang tight in case he returns home." 

"Please, just find my kid.", May returned without missing a beat.

"I'll find him.", Tony assured ahead of abruptly ending the call. A thousand thoughts were running through his mind as he stepped into a pair of sweat pants. It was times like these that he was thankful for his AI assistant. He didn't have to waste any time. She could get started while he finished throwing a shirt over his head and made his way to the lab. "FRIDAY? Pull up the Spider-suit's tracker and pinpoint its last coordinates for me, will you dear?"

Not even two seconds passed before the AI was dutifully responding with the information that he'd requested "The last known location was recorded at one-thirty-two in the morning. I'm sending you the coordinates to you now."

Tony felt his watch twitch and looked down at the location expecting to see it somewhere in Queens. Maybe even in the kid's closet but that wasn't the case and he brought his brows together with perplexity. "That's a block from the Tower. What on Earth was he doing there?", he rhetorically questioned but the AI responded anyway.

"I believe he was using the suit as a means of transportation.", FRIDAY replied and Tony rolled his eyes.

"He usually does.", Tony said with mild frustration as he too tried to dial Peter's number only to be sent straight to voicemail. The kid never had his phone turned off and that sent his lingering worry over the edge causing unfavorable thoughts to flow endlessly through his head. "I swear, if it wasn't frowned upon by every single government agency on the planet, I would put a tracker in back of the kid's neck.", he said through his teeth.

"That would be a human rights violation at best, Boss.", the AI chimed in, only adding to Tony's annoyance.

"Thanks, dear but I'd already figured that out for myself.", he acknowledged while simultaneously opening up all of the screens in front of him. "Pull up the surveillance footage and let's see if we can figure out what our resident spiderling was up to. Hopefully not getting kidnapped because it is way too early in the morning to deal with anything like that.", he said in an attempt to keep things light but in reality that was his number one fear at the moment. That the kid had snuck off and then gotten captured. There were people out there that would love to get their hands on Spider-man. Then just as he was starting to spiral, FRIDAY spoke up and eased the panic.

"Mr. Parker was not kidnapped.", the AI informed causing Tony's nack to snap up from where he's been staring at the floor. FRIDAY wasn't programmed to lie under any circumstances and that meant that she'd already been able to deduce _something_ he just didn't know what and even though no more than half a second had passed he was already beyond aggravated at the lack of instant explanation.

"Is there something you're not telling me because I'm starting to get a little anxious here.", he snapped. "If you know something that I don't, now would be an excellent time for you to fill me in."

"Mr. Parker entered the building at one-forty-two via the furthermost window of your private lab and has been asleep on the couch in the corner ever since. Would you like me to wake him?"

Tony's brain completely stalled at the information. He felt swindled. Outraged. The kid was currently occupying the very room he was sitting in. Granted it was a large room and the couch was in the furthest corner but the fact that he'd not been informed was maddening. "I'm sorry, Did you just tell me that the kid has been back there for the last...", He glanced down at his watch, "...six and a half hours and you just now decided to tell me?"

"Mr. Parker has full access to your private lab and requested that I not--", FRIDAY began to designate but Tony wasn't interested in the AI's miscalculated reasoning. Just because the kid had access to the lab didn't mean he wanted him to come and go without notice. JARVIS would have inferred that on his own. He was intuitive, could practically read his mind and-- he didn't have time to think about that as another notion invaded his thought process.

"--Wait, he's not hurt is he?", he asked, his heart beginning to palpitate in his chest as he awaited the answer.

"No injuries or illnesses were detected upon his arrival. Other than some minor sleep deprivation, Mr. Parker seems to be in excellent health.", FRIDAY said and Tony ran his hands through his hair and took several deep breaths. Once his heart had gone back to a more normal rhythm he stood up and began to weave through the various machines as he made his way towards the far end of the sprawling workshop where, sure enough, Peter was laying there completely knocked out.

For several seconds, Tony watched the boy's chest rise and fall in a soothing manner. He had one arm tucked under his head as a pillow and the other dangling over the side, his fingers brushing the floor while both knees were pulled up towards his chest. It didn't look overly comfortable but the kid's slack features seemed to say otherwise. He almost hated to wake him. Then he felt his phone buzz in his pocket. It was May. A quick text to inform her that her nephew was alive, well and in his care, he leaned over to shake Peter awake. "Time to rise and shine, Spiderling.", he said just loud enough to cause the teenager to stir.

"Mr. Stark?", Peter slurred as he opened his eyes. 

"In the flesh.", Tony returned with a fond smile. Even with a little bit of drool on the corner of his mouth, the kid looked sort of cute, laying there with his hair sticking up as it was. "What are you doing here, kiddo? Not that I don't enjoy your company but it's a school day and your aunt was kind of freaking out.", he said making the teenager shoot up into a sitting position so fast that it made his own head swim.

"Shoot! I overslept. I need to call her!", Peter said as he hurriedly pulled his phone out of his pocket only to realize that it was dead. "Shoot! She's going to kill me."

Smiling at the early morning dramatics, Tony sat himself down beside the stressed-out looking teenager and patted him on the knee. "I've already let her know that your safe and with me.", he and then paused as the softness he'd been feeling started to fade into minor irritation. Mostly because his pocket was still buzzing with was no doubt, numerous questions form May. Questions he couldn't yet answer. "You know, after adamantly insisting that you _weren't_ with me when she called this morning. So, how about we backtrack to my first question. What are you doing here?"

"Sleeping?", Peter apprehensively responded. 

"Okay...", Tony said with a quirk of his eyebrow. "Is there something wrong with your own bed?"

"No, but...", Peter began to but then found himself unable to locate the words necessary to explain any further. Partially because he wasn't sure he wanted to. Being caught had not been a part of his plan but Tony was looking at him with rapt anticipation and he knew he had to say _something_. "It's kind of hard to explain?"

"Well, I'm going to need you to give it the good ole college try because you showing up in my lab unannounced before dawn is worrisome.", Tony countered with seriousness and gave a curt nod of his head. "Which reminds me. FRIDAY? New rule. Anytime the kid enters or exits the building I want a heads up. Every time. No matter what. We'll call it the Baby Gate Protocol.", he added with a smirk, fully aware of how much the kid would hate the diminutive name. 

With a deep sigh, Peter looked down at the floor where he'd kicked his shoes off upon his arrival. He was already resigning himself to the fact that he would never be able to stealthily enter the building by any means ever again FRIDAY would no longer comply with his request to remain unattended. "That's not really necessary, Mr. Stark.", he tried.

"Apparently it is considering I spent the last fifteen minutes tracking your location only to find out that, _surprise!_... you were literally across the room from me the whole time.", Tony said in exasperation. "Inept and uninformed is not a good look on me. So, forgive me for preventing it from happening again... and for the _third time_.", he pressed, " _Why are you here_?"

"I can't sleep at home.", Peter answered in defeat. "I mean I can but it's, it's _hard_ and I was _so tired_ and my spider-sense wouldn't shut up so, so I came _here_.", he quietly explained.

Tony looked at the kid beside him with a wrinkle of concern etched across his brow. "Doesn't your spider-ESP usually warn you that you're in danger", he asked because it made no sense that the kid would never leave May at risk. He would protect her with his life.

"Yes but no.", Peter said with a shrug of his shoulders and another sigh. He legitimately didn't know how to expound on the subject. Even he wasn't one-hundred percent clear on how his spider-sense worked sometimes. "It does the thing where it makes my hairs stand on end when there's an immediate threat but it's also just always there in the back of my skull. Except it's more of a constant, quiet hum. Just enough to keep me alert. During the day it's fine. I only really notice it at night anymore but sometimes there are nights where its more annoying than others and I just... _can't sleep._ "

Tony made sure to maintain eye contact to show that he was listening. He had no experience with spider-induced anxiety but he certainly knew a thing or two about insomnia. "So... you thought you would come by and mess around in the lab by yourself?", he asked dubiously by virtue of the fact that he was still unclear as to how the sleep-deprived teenager ended up on his couch.

"No, Mr. Stark. Just _sleep_.", Peter said as he chewed on his bottom. "Like do you remember last week when you had to wake me up after I fell asleep with my head on your desk?", he asked and waited for him mentor to say that he did. "Well, I realized that day that my spider-sense is quiet when I'm here. Like super, quiet and I think it's because it just feels _really, really_ safe when I'm here.", he adamantly replied before wavering slightly as he weighed his next words. "I think, I think it has to do with you. ...because when you're around, I can sleep without having to force myself to ignore that buzz. It's like my DNA knows that you have the ability to take care of me while I rest.", he said and almost felt bad about it. He knew May would always try to protect him too but the fact of the matter was that she was vulnerable and Tony... _he was Iron Man._

Smiling fondly, Tony wrapped his arm around the boy's shoulders. He wholly understood the levity that came with that admission. "I'm glad you feel safe with me, Buddy.", he gently replied and after that, things grew quiet with thought. He'd met the kid months ago and at that time the teenager had said that he'd acquired his abilities six months prior. He wondered if something had changed or if the kid had honestly gone that long without a good night's sleep. "You've had your powers for a while now. How have you been dealing with that all this time?"

"Well, that's why I would patrol so late at night. If I exerted enough energy to become exhausted, it made it easier to sleep and I guess I just sort of got used to not getting a full night's sleep. Then when Aunt May found out about everything and gave me a curfew it made things more difficult. Sometimes, I'm so tired I can't think straight but all I can do is stare at the ceiling. I knew if I came here I could sleep and I thought I set an alarm on my phone so that I could get home before your or May found out but I guess my battery died. I didn't mean to make everyone worry. I'm so sorry, Mr. Stark.", Peter shot back all in one continuous ramble, taking a sharp intake of air at the end.

"Calm down, kiddo. We know you're safe now and that's what matters the most. We're going to have to come up with a better plan for you to get some sleep though. I can't have you sneaking in through my windows at all hours and you should be sleeping in an actual bed and not on an old worn-out couch.", Tony said as he pulled the kid into his side could feel him instantly relax against him and sighed contentedly. He had Pepper, Rhodey and Happy but even still, it had been an exceptionally long time since anyone had _told_ him that they trusted him so extensively and it felt _good_ to have someone else by his side. "We'll talk to your Aunt. Maybe you can stay here overnight sometimes. At least on the weekends.", he said before thoughtfully adding, "Of course, by here, I mean in the bedroom I'm going to set up for you in the penthouse."

"You don't have to do that, Mr. Stark. I mean I would really appreciate being allowed to sleep there sometimes but I don't need you to give me a room or anything. The couch is fine, I promise.", Peter replied but he couldn't entirely stop himself from smiling at the man's offer. Being invited to spend some nights there was amazing enough without the added grandeur of knowing he would have a space set aside just for him.

"No, It's not fine. You need a room with a bed and I'm going to do that for you. Now, from what I can figure, you're already late for school so, you may as well come upstairs with me while I call your aunt. I'll make you some breakfast and then you can take a nap.", Tony said as he tried to formulate a plan for exactly how he was going to relay all of this newly acquired information to May. Although, his thoughts were interrupted sooner than they had the chance to flow.

"--I can't just skip school, Mr. Stark!", Peter squawked despite the fact that he had to have already missed at least one period. 

Tony chuckled and gave the boy's shoulders a firm squeeze. "Pete, you just sat there and told me that you haven't had a good night's sleep in _months_ so I'm afraid that I'm going to have to insist. I'm sure May will agree once I explain everything to her. I'll even write you an excuse. How about that?", he asked with a smile, though his tone didn't no margin for argument.

Suddenly realizing how tired he still was, Peter nodded his head and yawned so wide that his eyes watered. 

Giving an approving nod, Tony led them both upstairs where he took to the stove to make an omelet while Peter made use of the bathroom. Then, once he had the kid settled at the kitchen table he disappeared to talk to May in the privacy of his office. It took very little persuasion to get her to agree to allow her nephew to spend a few nights a week at the tower. Especially if it meant that he wouldn't allow himself to get so exhausted that he felt the need to sneak off in the middle of the night again and Tony couldn't have been happier with the new arrangement. He'd not realized exactly how close he'd actually gotten to the kid until he was being faced with a near panic attack at the prospect of him having gone missing. Consequently, he was still smiling to himself as he reentered the kitchen.

"Everything's all set. Your curfew had officially been extended by half an hour and May agreed that you need a day off. She also agreed that from now on you can spend your weekends with me.", Tony said with an unwavering grin. "If you want to of course."

"I would love that, sir. If you're sure it's okay, I mean.", Peter said with a smile of his own, soon after hopping up to place his dishes neatly into the sink.

"It's fine. Better than fine, it's great. Means I'll have you around to do all the heavy lifting in the lab those days. My back can only take so much and the Iron Man armor isn't as comfortable as you would think. This is an absolute win for me.", Tony flippantly replied and then gestured for the boy to follow him up the stairs. "This is my room", he said as he lay his hand on the closed door at the front of the wide hall before turning to open the door that was adjacent to it. "...and this is going to be your room", he pointed out while watching the kid's eyes light up at the sight. "We'll have to get you some stuff to keep here and redecorate so that it suits you but there's a bathroom, a walk-in closet and the bed should be comfortable enough."

"This is amazing. Thank you, Mr. Stark.", Peter replied all starry-eyed and grateful.

"You're welcome, kid.", Tony said, chuckling at the way the teenager dramatically fall backward onto the mattress. "Now you go ahead and get some rest. I'll have FRIDAY will tell me when you're up and then I can drive you home.", said with some remorse. He would have loved to have had to kid stay there for the whole day but his aunt had insisted that he needed to get home. Though he was already looking forward to the weekend. 

"Thank you for letting me stay, Mr. Stark.", Peter said as he peeled back the duvet and climbed under the sheet. 

"You're more than welcome.", Tony returned as he gave in to the urge to run his fingers through the boy's hair, smiling when the kid leaned into his touch. "Good-night, Buddy.", he whispered and then quietly slipped out of the bedroom.

**Author's Note:**

> **So, I've been on a writing binge recently... That means that if there are any cool scenarios or prompts you would like to see me do for this series... now is a very good time to bring it up.**
> 
>   
>  **❤💙❤💙❤**
> 
>   
>  _**I wish everyone well and hope that you're all staying safe no matter where you are.** _


End file.
